Kurama's Avatar
by Sands Buisle
Summary: Naruto hated being Kurama's Avatar. He hated being cooped up inside the temple, always hidden behind a mask of the god's visage. So when the fox deity he was bound to serve from birth to death offered him a way to sneak out of the temple without being caught and see the world, who was he to deny Its will? Set centuries after canon, but uses canon characters to avoid OCs.


Naruto looked at the mask in his hand. It was beautiful, a work of the finest crafting; you could make out individual hairs, looking so real that he still expected it to feel like fur, even though he'd held the mask many times before. It was made in a perfect likeness of the god Kurama, made for the fox's Avatar to wear whenever they interacted with the masses.

He hated it.

He hated the temple he'd lived in his entire life. He hated the monks who coddled him and forbade him from ever leaving. He hated the ancient robes he wore every day. He hated his parents, whoever they were, for abandoning him in this place. He even hated _Kurama_ , the god who he has served his entire life, and will continue to serve until the day he died, even though It was the only person sympathetic to his pleas, to his loneliness, to his boredom.

'Times have changed greatly from the olden days' It had said, when Naruto had complained to It. 'Back then, you would have been trained as a Shinobi, to become a weapon for the village. Of course, back then I was called a monster, and being an Avatar was a burden, rather than an honour!'

Naruto wished it was still a burden. He would have been the scum of humanity, but at least he would have been _free_. He couldn't sit here, in this big empty temple, interpreting the god's will. All Kurama did was complain about the boredom, and how it wished the monks would allow Naruto to come out and play (which they never did, telling him that he 'shouldn't lie about Its will, now be a good Avatar and go back to your studies!').

Naruto sighed, putting on the mask before standing up. Today was the tenth of October, the date of the annual festival of the Nine Gods, celebrating the defeat of the demon goddess Kaguya. As the Avatar of Kurama- a title given to him when his parents allowed a portion of the god's chakra to be transferred to him from the previous Avatar as an infant, and which will be passed on to a newly born Avatar when he dies- he must preside over the most spiritual part of the celebrations. He'd never actually acted his part out before (he had been too young) but now he will, for the first time of many.

 **Kurama's Avatar**

He found himself in the great hall of the temple, the part open to visitors. Except the great hall was never empty- even when there weren't any tourists or reverent worshippers, there was always at least one monk on duty to help anyone who came in, not to mention the security. This fact merely helped confirm to Naruto that this was all in his mind.

Of course, the fact that he had just gone to sleep was what really gave it away, along with the giant fox smiling down at him.

"Can't I get one night of rest?" He whined irreverently. If the monks could see him now, they would be horrified. But Naruto never really cared about proper respect, least of all to Kurama. The god cared about it even less than he did.

"I suppose I _could_ let you have pointless dreams of freedom that will never come brat, or I could teach you a way to sneak out of here and see the world from time to time." The fox chuckled.

Naruto stopped mid-rant (which he had continued while Kurama was speaking- brother Iruka never did manage to teach him not to speak over others) and turned to stare at the deity. "What?"

Let it be said that Kurama's Avatar had quite a way with words. "I said that I will teach you spells that will enable you to escape this most holy prison, while fooling everybody into thinking you're still here. This way, you'll be able to sneak out on occasion, but you must always return."

"Why haven't you taught me these spells before, you dumb old fox? You're telling me I didn't have to spend the past six years in this stupid place?!" Let it also be said that Kurama's Avatar was also very _loud_. In fact, Kurama had many times complained that It always got the loud ones, although It had done so with no little fondness and nostalgia. Its divine siblings would always reply 'You think _your_ Avatar's bad?'

Kurama snorted. "You are now at the age that most children begin their magic training- hence why you're considered old enough to do your Avatar duties- so only now will I teach you. Be grateful, brat- one of these spells had been lost to the sands of time, and only _I_ know its secrets. It is, after all, the spell that helped Migite achieve greatness."

That shut Naruto up, causing the god to smirk. Seji no Migite was legendary, having fought alongside Seji no Hidarite to defeat the moon goddess, before defeating Hidarite and showing him the error of his ways. Many also credit him with helping in the unification of Ninkai, although he wasn't even _present_ in the talks. Naruto should know, seeing as Migite was the vessel of Kurama at the time.

"So, what are we waiting for? Teach me, Kurama!"

 **Author's Notes**

 _Seji no Migite- Right Hand of the Sage_

 _Seji no Hidarite- Left Hand of the Sage_

 _Ninkai- Ninja World_

This story is a mixture of AU and future fic- it takes place several centuries after the events of canon, but uses the canon characters, because I didn't want to create a bunch of OCs. Since a lot can change in a few centuries, culture and technology will be quite different from canon. Due to how canon is a weird mix of almost modern tech and old technology (probably due to chakra making some inventions obsolete before being invented, so they and anything derived from them was never made), this story will also feature some advanced technologies (haven't fully decided on what is and is not available) and old ones.

I won't be pointing out the scary similarities between my characters and their canon selves, because in this continuity they were totally different- Migite is canon Naruto, but he is not this story's Naruto, for example. Historical characters (when mentioned) will probably be referred to by title, for simplicity's sake.

As with all my stories, this will be updated whenever- probably after I figure out what the plot will be, although the first couple of chapters will mostly be Naruto exploring his new found freedom in Ninkai's largest city: Konoha.

'Ninkai' is basically what I decided to call the Shinobi Union, since over the centuries all of the lands east of Wind and Earth have joined the alliance. Its capital is the city in the Land of Iron where the meeting of the five Kage took place, and the Alliance was formed. It is ruled by the Council of Shadows, which is democratic body with elected officials from each participating 'land' (which basically work like counties in the UK, except they each have their own powerless monarch).

I find it unlikely that this story will explore the lands beyond Ninkai's borders, or even make mention of them beyond imported goods, even if it does continue much (these stories of mine are mostly passing fancies.)


End file.
